diff --git a/lib/request_errors.rb b/lib/request_errors.rb
index 5f6e6f0..ed6cad0 100644
--- a/lib/request_errors.rb
+++ b/lib/request_errors.rb
@@ -7,6 +7,9 @@ module RestClient
 	# Authorization is required to access the resource specified.
 	class Unauthorized < RuntimeError; end
 
+	# No resource was found at the given URL.
+	class ResourceNotFound < RuntimeError; end
+
 	# The server broke the connection prior to the request completing.
 	class ServerBrokeConnection < RuntimeError; end
 
@@ -35,7 +38,6 @@ module RestClient
 
 		def message(default="Unknown error, HTTP status code #{http_code}")
 			return default unless @response
-			return "Resource not found" if http_code == 404
 			parse_error_xml rescue default
 		end
 
diff --git a/lib/rest_client.rb b/lib/rest_client.rb
index ac7460e..775da18 100644
--- a/lib/rest_client.rb
+++ b/lib/rest_client.rb
@@ -124,6 +124,8 @@ module RestClient
 				raise Redirect, res.header['Location']
 			elsif res.code == "401"
 				raise Unauthorized
+			elsif res.code == "404"
+				raise ResourceNotFound
 			else
 				raise RequestFailed, res
 			end
diff --git a/spec/rest_client_spec.rb b/spec/rest_client_spec.rb
index 79e825f..c41ba4d 100644
--- a/spec/rest_client_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/rest_client_spec.rb
@@ -189,6 +189,11 @@ describe RestClient do
 			lambda { @request.process_result(res) }.should raise_error(RestClient::Unauthorized)
 		end
 
+		it "raises ResourceNotFound when the response is 404" do
+			res = mock('response', :code => '404')
+			lambda { @request.process_result(res) }.should raise_error(RestClient::ResourceNotFound)
+		end
+
 		it "raises RequestFailed otherwise" do
 			res = mock('response', :code => '500')
 			lambda { @request.process_result(res) }.should raise_error(RestClient::RequestFailed)